The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) welcomes the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement on electronic waste issued by the Environmental Heritage Protection Council (EPHC) this week.
“A concerted effort to address the issues relating to eWaste at the national level will be essential to delivering the right environmental outcomes in the future,” said AIIA CEO Ian Birks.
“AIIA and the wider ICT industry congratulate the Minister and State Governments across Australia for developing the public debate with informed and detailed analysis of the current situation and available options.”
The RIS examines viable frameworks for the recycling of computer and TV equipment in Australia at a detailed level – assessing environmental outcomes against consumer, government and industry costs. Nine models are assessed and presented as options for recycling eWaste in the Australian context.
While the RIS combines Television and Computer industry waste in most of these models, the ICT industry believes that some separation of these schemes may represent the most efficient approach due to the complexity of computer industry products and the local marketplace.
While further analysis of the nine models is needed, in an initial reading by AIIA and its members, two options (4 and 6) emerged as most viable for our industry to support.
In assessing the options, the ICT industry is concerned to ensure: the best possible environmental outcomes; followed by the lowest cost to consumers; the minimum administrative overheads for both Government and the industry; and the strongest incentive for industry engagement, including the incorporation of environmental design principles into standard product lines for their eventual disassembly.
The ICT industry opposes a flat levy to pay for the costs associated with recycling computer equipment, as proposed by option 7 in the Impact Statement.
“Allowing companies to determine the level of costs that will ultimately be passed on to consumers will deliver a solution that allows market forces to keep these costs to a minimum,” said Mr Birks. “It also provides technology companies with the flexibility to determine which product lines and business units will generate the funding demanded by recycling initiatives.”
AIIA, in partnership with Sustainability Victoria and industry partners Apple, Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo, and Lexmark, has been trialling eWaste management practices through the Byteback program in Victoria since 2007.
A unique initiative in Australian e-waste management, Byteback is a successful partnership between government and industry that offers responsible electronic waste recycling free of charge to small business and the community in Victoria.
A detailed analysis of the data yielded by the Byteback study will be released within the next month. This report and further assessment of the RIS by AIIA and its members will be detailed in a formal response through the RIS process.